Day 30... sorry for the lack of updateness lately. Work has been really busy, and I've had like, at least 3 mouth appointments a week. I had my first appointment with my orthodontist on Tuesday. He sympathized about the front of my mouth (when they closed up the back the front got kinda janky), but said that it's way way easier to close up the front with orthodontics than the back, so that was comforting. And it's nice to be able to complain a little about the way I look to someone who understands! I mean, he fixes bites, yes, but part of what he does as well is make people pretty.
I'm still wearing the retainer and 2 bands during the day and one in the middle at night. (see diagram - it's pretty accurate, except I don't have 4/8 of my canine teeth, but you get the picture). It's nothing compared to the splint, but I definitely talk with a lisp while my retainer is in, and even a little with it out. Parts of my cheeks and a little of the left side of my lip are numb, so I'm sure that's effecting it a little. Hopefully once ALL the swelling goes away and I've regained feeling everywhere, I'll be able to talk normally again. It makes sense, though, because one of the biggest reason for my messed up bite was that the inside of my bite was too small for my tongue, so it pressed up against all the teeth and messed everything up. And the tongue has a lot to do with speech, so...
And, in theory, I will be able to start to "up" my diet in just 2 short weeks. Start phasing in some semi-solid foods. That will definitely be nice.
And we re-looked over the finances, and I think everything should work out a-okay, despite the fact that the insurance is (initially) saying it's going to pay for just a little bit over 1.5% of the surgeon's fees (which are not small). After everything's settled with that, I'll give a full breakdown of the costs, etc., for those who are curious. On the flip side, I'm only having to pay for 7% of the hospital costs, although St. David's gives a 60% discount if you don' t have insurance, so really we're paying for 17%, but still. Much better than 100%. But with the 18 months no-interest with the surgeon, we're making minimum payments to prevent interest, then we'll just have a really big 18th payment, but that's in 18 months, and hopefully I'll have received at least a couple raises by then. It's a solid plan, as far as plans go.
Hmmm... if TV is any indication, my mood has shifted greatly since the surgery. At first after the surgery, I watched The Office pretty much 24/7 - I think Jared was about to start wearing earplugs around the house - but now, I've shifted into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still funny, but a little more quippy and a little less L-O-L. Plus, it contains my doppelganger, Alyson Hannigan, who is tempting me to get a haircut...
I'll try to update when important stuff happens, but a lot of the important stuff is over now, and I know I said I wanted to update every day, but apparently it is not my destiny to become an orthognathic surgery bible blog...
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